“Saturday Night Fever” Dance Floor Lights Up Auction at Julien’s

“Saturday Night Fever” (Paramount, 1977) one sheet (27 in. by 41 in.). The movie starred John Travolta and
Karen Lynn Gorney, as well as the entirety of 1970s disco scene. Image courtesy Heritage Auctions.

Sometimes, a movie captures the spirit of its time. Sometimes, that spirit can be caught by a single scene, still frame, or even set piece. That’s the case with the iconic illuminated dance floor from the 1977 film “Saturday Night Fever,” which sold for $325,000 at the recent “Hollywood Legends: Danger, Disaster & Disco” event at Julien’s Auctions. As the top lot, it was the highlight of the auction in more ways than one.

Custom-made for the production and featured in iconic scenes, publicity shots, and movie posters, the multicolored dance floor is as emblematic as the white suit John Travolta’s character wore to dance on it. (Incidentally, that suit sold last year, also at Julien’s Auctions, for $260,000.) Despite the film’s relatively narrow focus on working-class Italian kids in Brooklyn, it resonated with an entire generation and beyond, entering the U.S. Film Registry in 2010. Disco music—and dancing—was a key part of its appeal, with its soundtrack becoming the best-selling in history.

The dance floor was custom-made for the 2001 Odyssey Disco to use in the movie and was part of the club until it closed in 2005 when employee Vito Bruno bought it. In 2012, the floor appeared in an episode of the TV show Glee. The original acrylic panels from the film and the modern panels made for the episode were included in the lot, along with a DVD of the film.

The dance floor was the top lot at the auction but not the only pop culture icon. The second-highest lot didn’t appear in a movie, but it belonged to one of the industry’s greatest stars: a three-quarter length black jersey evening dress designed by Cecil Chapman and worn by Marilyn Monroe to an event Bob Hope hosted in 1953. Monroe attended the event with Joe DiMaggio. The dress sold for $254,000, surpassing its high estimate of $50,000.

More high-selling lots from the auction include an Ark of the Covenant prop used in the 1981 Indiana Jones adventure “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” which sold for $104,000 against a high estimate of $70,000 (the lot description specifies that the lid is removable, but doesn’t say what happens if you do remove it) and a Persian-style rug prop used in “The Big Lebowski” (1998), which must really tie the room together at $50,800.

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Heritage Auctions Signature Auction Featured Treasures from the House of Romanoff

The Romanov treasures feature a captivating blend of opulence, history, and tragedy, reflecting the grandeur and tumultuous fate of this once-mighty dynasty. 

On May 17, Heritage Auctions held its first Imperial Fabergé & Russian Works of Art Signature Auction, focusing on treasures from the house of Romanoff. In a press release, Nick Nicholson, the auction house’s Senior Specialist in Russian Works of Art, called it “a classic Russian Works of Art sale, with Imperial Fabergé, enamels, paintings, sculpture, furniture, decorative arts and Imperial ephemera of a type not seen in the U.S. since the 1990s.” The auction passed its high estimate to bring in $5.69 million, showing that people remain fascinated by the Romanoff family more than a hundred years after their tragic end.

The Romanoff (also spelled Romanov) dynasty began in 1613 and ended with Tsar Nicholas II, who abdicated in 1917 and was killed along with his wife and children in 1918. Extended family members escaped, taking valuables with them. Over time, these valuables went into museum collections or were sold to private buyers. Some of them, many of which had not been publicly viewed in decades, were sold at the Heritage auction.

Two of the most famous—and most collectible—areas of Russian art are Fabergé metalwork and religious icons. Both were well represented in the sale. The top lot was an Imperial Fabergé picture frame made of the semiprecious stone bowenite carved into an egg shape. It has gold mounts with two types of enamel: opaque red and white, and the translucent guilloché enamel Fabregé is famous for in red and green. A bezel set with diamonds surrounds an original photograph of Empress Maria Feodorovna. The frame was made by Mikhail Perkhin in St. Petersburg before 1896. It sold with its original silk- and velvet-lined box for $750,000, a record price for a Fabergé picture frame.

Another notable Fabergé piece that sold at the auction was a silver paper knife with an enameled flag with the Cross of St. Andrew on the handle. This symbol was a popular choice for Romanoff family members who served in the Imperial Navy. It was originally purchased by Nicholas II as a gift for Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich in 1911. It sold at the auction for $30,000.

The auction’s second-highest price was $457,000 for a lampada, or a hanging lamp meant to illuminate icons during worship. It is made of gold and decorated with enamel and gilt silver, and its history makes it even more valuable. Tsesarevich and Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich commissioned it in 1850 to commemorate the recovery of his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandronova, and their infant son after a difficult pregnancy and illness. He had it placed in the Church of Saint Alexius in the Chudov Monastery of the Kremlin. The church was closed in 1918, and the Lampada was probably removed in the 1920s and available for sale in the 1930s. George R. Hann, a wealthy collector from Pennsylvania, bought it along with other icons when he went to the Soviet Union for business.

As always, all that glitters is not gold or even silver. The main value of some lots comes from their historical significance and the information they provide. For example, two volumes of the unpublished diary of Prince Nikita Alexandrovich from 1917 sold for $21,250. Nick Nicholson was “pleased to note” that the diaries “were acquired by the Romanoff Center for Russian Studies at the University of Oklahoma.” They provide a firsthand account of the Revolution from the perspective of the prince as a teenage cadet in the Imperial Navy.

Additional auction results can be found here on the Heritage Auctions website.

Photos courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

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1987 Nintendo Game Thought to be Worth $20,000 Sells for $288,000 at Auction

It’s a seller’s dream: You have something you know is a treasure, and you find out it’s worth even more than you thought!

That’s what happened to a young collector in California last year. A sealed copy of the 1987 Nintendo game The Legend of Zelda had been in his family for years. With little personal attachment to the game—a press release from Heritage Auctions quotes him as saying, “I was born way after it came out”—and aware that a factory-sealed game from the 1980s could bring a high price, he decided to sell it on eBay.

The Legend of Zelda Sealed – Rated 8.0
Sold for $288,000 at Auction.
Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

After doing some research (always a good idea when you’re planning to sell a collectible), he thought it might sell for up to $20,000. Within minutes, he received plenty of bids and messages; one prospective buyer offered $30,000. Realizing the game was worth much more than he expected, he took down the listing. A later message connected him to a professional grading service and to Heritage Auctions, which had sold a copy of the same game for $705,000 in 2021.

The game, graded 8.0, went to Heritage’s Video Games Signature Auction on Feb. 23 and 24, 2024, where it sold for $288,000. It’s not the highest price for a video game sold at auction (that would be $1.56 million for a copy of Super Mario 64 sold in 2021, also by Heritage), but at ten times the price he initially expected, we doubt the seller minded!

Legend of Zelda, back cover.
Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

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Initial Buyer Reneged, but a Private Collector Comes Through, as the $4 Thrift Store Wyeth Painting Finds a Home

In September, a New Hampshire resident learned that the painting she had bought for $4 at a thrift shop was an original work by N.C. Wyeth, potentially worth $250,000. The painting went to auction at Bonhams Skinner’s “American Art” event on Sept. 19, where it sold for $191,000 with buyer’s premium, falling right in the range of the $150,00 to $250,000 presale estimate. But a story as remarkable as this one isn’t over without a few more twists and turns.

Time passed by, and the end of October approached. The buyer, located in Australia, still hadn’t paid. When it became clear that the sale would have to be canceled—a rare occurrence, although it does happen sometimes—Bonham’s auction house offered the painting’s owners, Tracy and Tom Donahue, a consignment agreement. The agreement stated they would receive $132,750 if the painting sold privately. The Donahues chose not to take the offer. They accepted that their prized painting might be nothing more than a family heirloom with a story attached.

But a painting with provenance like this doesn’t go unnoticed. Aviva Lehmann, an expert in American art working for Heritage Auctions, learned about the painting and contacted the Donahues. She was sure she could sell the painting privately and even knew of a collector who wanted to buy it. Lehmann arranged the sale. According to the New York Times, the collector is staying anonymous, and while the price was over $100,000, the exact value has not been disclosed.

The Donahues are keeping a print of the painting.

The N.C. Wyeth work, “Ramona,” was bought for $4 at a New Hampshire thrift shop.
Photo: Courtesy Bonhams Skinner